05.13.24
More than 70% of flexo plate producers use solvent-wash plate processing. In an ideal world, plate processing would migrate to water-wash plates, eliminating the need for solvent use and reducing the plate processing environmental footprint. Asahi Photoproducts, offers those solutions. The company also understands that in today’s turbulent economy and competitive marketplace, it is not always easy to make the investment in new equipment to take this step. This is why Asahi has created a bridge product to help flexo plate producers begin their journey on the Road to Solvent ZERO.
Asahi’s AFP-R reduced solvent flexo plate solutions are unique in the marketplace, the conmpany says. While there has been much discussion about migrating from solvent to water-wash or thermal platemaking technology, until now, no effort has been made by any plate supplier to accelerate a “bridging technology” to reduce solvent consumption of the current 70% of existing installed base of solvent wash equipment. This fact has triggered the development by Asahi Photoproducts of a new plate chemistry, which can easily be washed, but with approximately 30% less solvent and up to 50% of the total energy consumption compared to traditional solvent wash plate processing.
Not only that, but with Asahi’s AFP-R reduced solvent plates, you can dramatically increase the number of plates you can produce per hour, since the process requires significantly less drying time. Plus, there is less swelling of the plate during processing, increasing print quality.
“With these plates, our plate turnaround time is about an hour to an hour and a quarter faster and we are using much less solvent. The washout and drying times are cut in half compared to other material we use. And I will say that the number one thing we are seeing with the AFP-R plates is the consistency. We rarely have to change the setting for the relief from box to box, which is huge for us. With other products we have tested, the exposure times may change for back exposure from batch to batch, costing us time and effort to get the quality we need," says Tami Warlop, graphics manager, Excelsior Marking.
Asahi’s AFP-R reduced solvent flexo plate solutions are unique in the marketplace, the conmpany says. While there has been much discussion about migrating from solvent to water-wash or thermal platemaking technology, until now, no effort has been made by any plate supplier to accelerate a “bridging technology” to reduce solvent consumption of the current 70% of existing installed base of solvent wash equipment. This fact has triggered the development by Asahi Photoproducts of a new plate chemistry, which can easily be washed, but with approximately 30% less solvent and up to 50% of the total energy consumption compared to traditional solvent wash plate processing.
Not only that, but with Asahi’s AFP-R reduced solvent plates, you can dramatically increase the number of plates you can produce per hour, since the process requires significantly less drying time. Plus, there is less swelling of the plate during processing, increasing print quality.
“With these plates, our plate turnaround time is about an hour to an hour and a quarter faster and we are using much less solvent. The washout and drying times are cut in half compared to other material we use. And I will say that the number one thing we are seeing with the AFP-R plates is the consistency. We rarely have to change the setting for the relief from box to box, which is huge for us. With other products we have tested, the exposure times may change for back exposure from batch to batch, costing us time and effort to get the quality we need," says Tami Warlop, graphics manager, Excelsior Marking.